Hannah Kew

Hannah Kew serves as Senior Lecturer in Performance within the Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries, and Education (ACE) at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), leveraging over 20 years of professional experience as a performer, maker, and director across live and digital performance domains.

Her academic credentials include a BA in Acting from Arts Educational Schools London and an MA in Performance and Culture from Goldsmiths College. She holds Fellow status with the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Research centers on Embodied Performance Practices within digitized cultural landscapes, specifically examining how contact, touch, immersion, and sensorial connections function as radical pathways to interconnection in contemporary performance. Her methodology emphasizes practice-led interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge movement-centric techniques with digital theatre formats.

Key projects include the cross-disciplinary PINCH collaboration (2011-2015) exploring performer-spectator dialogue; Still Life (2022) integrating performance with visual art responses; Harold Pinter’s 'Party Time' (2023) incorporating digital techniques; the Angela Carter Theatre Walk (2024); and Noman's Land (2025) developed with refugee students for Bristol Refugee Festival.

Her professional recognition includes:

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)

As an educator, she directs movement-centric devised theatre development and ensemble training across all academic levels, frequently collaborating with Fine Art, Illustration, and Drama students. Her externally funded projects demonstrate sustained partnerships with Arts Council England, Bristol Old Vic Ferment, Theatre Bristol, The Place (London), and Bristol Beacon.